1. Field
The present invention relates to the technical field of electric cable accessories, and in particular, to an inlet funnel for cable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a typical inlet funnel for high-voltage electric cable terminals in the market. A copper inlet funnel is a necessary component for accessories of 110 KV electric cable terminal (for example, GIS terminal or outdoor terminal). Specifically, referring to FIGS. 1, 1a, and 1b, the conventional inlet funnel mainly comprises a conical main portion 1 and a trumpeted mounting portion 2, wherein an annular margin 3 is formed along exterior rim of the trumpeted mounting portion 2 and is provided with a plurality of mounting apertures 4 adapted for mounting of the funnel.
Before an installation operation, the operator needs to cut out the conical main portion 1 in the field by a specific tool in accordance with the sizes of the outer diameter of the electric cables to be mounted, to alter the size of the opening of the conical main portion 1 such that the opening of the inlet funnel completely matches with the cable metal sheath diameter during the installation operation. Then, to fixedly attach the inlet funnel to the electric cable terminal on a surface by bolting the mounting holes 4.
That is, at present, for a field installation operation, the operator not only requires a specific tool, but also needs to cut out the conical main portion 1 in the field as required by the specific tool to match the opening of the inlet funnel with the cable metal sheath having a certain size. All of these increase the amount of work and installation time in the field. Moreover, in order to ensure complete conjunction between the inlet and the cable metal sheath around the electric cable terminal, a relative accurate diameter of the inlet funnel should be obtained. Accordingly, there are some specific demands on the cutting operation which result in some difficulty during the installation. What's more, additional materials are needed during welding with the metal sheath due to the irregular shape of the cutting funnel. In addition, the specific tool may injure the operator during the installation.
Therefore, there is a demand in the market to develop a novel inlet funnel which may overcome the above mentioned disadvantages.